DOUBLE TRAGEDY: THE MBEMBE AND BORDER COMMUNITIES DURING THE NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR

Since 1970, many contributions in the form of reminiscence, biographies and books by politicians, military officers and civil servants have been written on the Nigerian civil war. These writers were either participants in the war front, observers, or held critical positions in Nigeria during the civil war era. These works have shedded light on the events preceding the civil war, especially the two military coups, problems of military relationship, organization and leadership. Mention must also be made of the contributions from literary collection on the war. These works are mainly perspectives from the top and ignore the effect of the war on the majority of the people. What happened to ordinary people in border communities who found themselves plunged into a war they did not bargain for This paper attempts to fill this gap with real stories and experiences of ordinary people in three Mbembe communities in south ? eastern Nigeria. They found themselves in wars within the civil war with other border communities. The primary aim of these wars having no bearing with those formulated by the major adversaries of the civil war. The paper concludes that the experiences and scars of the war time betrayal by border communities have not helped to foster inter group relations in post civil war era.